[autotag]Kyle Larson[/autotag] appeared to have a car that would challenge William Byron for the victory at Watkins Glen International; however, Larson’s day was ruined after he sped on pit road on his final pit stop. The Hendrick Motorsports driver climbed through the pack into the top 20 spots but an incident in the final turn of the event relegated him to 26th place.
As Larson went into the final corner, the No. 5 car divebombed underneath Richard Childress Racing driver [autotag]Austin Dillon[/autotag], and the two of them spun out. Dillon would go on to finish in 31st place and confront the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion on pit road. After the event, Larson spoke to Fronstretch about the incident with Dillon at Watkins Glen.
“(Austin Dillon) was upset,” Larson said, “I kind of dive-bombed him in the bus stop as I was going through the pack. Thankfully, he left me room because we would have crashed then. A handful of laps later, he got upset exiting the bus stop and I had a run and just nudged him a little bit off the bottom. I guess that really ticked him off so he got into me in Turn 10.”
Drama on the final lap!
Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson got together in the final two corners. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/C7E3VSvn1M
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 20, 2023
“I really honestly wasn’t even trying to crash him in the last corner. I was trying to maintain leverage into the final corner and got in hot and hit him and crashed. Just a frustrating result to what was going to be a good day.”
Larson had the speed to compete with Byron but a pit road penalty and his mistake with Dillon in the final corner ruined a good run for the No. 5 team. Now, Larson goes to Daytona International Speeway looking to close out the NASCAR regular season on a high note.
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